The incidents of piracy were dropping dramatically since humans came on the scene. It wasn't that noticeable, at first, but it soon became ever more apparent. The fighting prowess, and sheer terrifying ferociousness, of humans in battle was considered a part of the issue, but the odd thing was, many pirates were now giving up piracy for more honest, and often more profitable, trades. And almost always it was after tangling with humans. A study now was being conducted. Were humans, with their combat skills, to blame for this? Or was it their ability to pack-bond with all other species? Or was something else at work here? -- Anon Guest
But many a king on a first-class throne,
If he wants to call his crown his own,
Must manage somehow to get through
More dirty work than ever I do -- Ancient Human Opera concerning piracy [AN: Thanks to elyrics.net ]
The Galactic Alliance is not an empire. Not exactly. The problem with empires is that they have to keep expanding their borders until they become too big for one centralised organisational structure to manage, and therefore fail and fall as all empires must. It is, however, a loose conglomeration of interstellar polities who have decided to put aside the various means of combat in favour of swapping cool things with each other in a system of mutually assured assistance.
It's amazing how many Human polities have trouble with this concept. They're Deathworlders. They can't help thinking of things in terms of who has the biggest and most fearsome means of destruction ready to hand. Fortunately, there are plenty of instances of self-sacrifice being the ultimate noble act in Human lore to gently remove any fingers from any associated triggers.
Humans are, interestingly, both the most fearsome warriors and the friendliest species to ever cross the path of the Alliance. They will pack-bond with literally anything. Cogniscent, non-cogniscent... inanimate... Anything. Don't ask, they will. Anything you can think of. Yes, even that. Far too many species have attempted kidnapping Humans to find out their secrets and emerged at the other end of the experience wondering what the flakk happened whilst their new Human friend shows them a shiny thing they found. It just happens that way.
The Alliance had, before it welcomed Humans into its midst, had a piracy problem. Those on the Edge favoured having a minimum of a Human on every ship as a form of protection, and the practice spread into a majority of trade shipping lanes. Interestingly, it was those who had a Human on board who never had a problem with pirates. It was almost as if some allies were sneakily attempting to get trade articles for free. Once Humans were in the mix, with their pack-bonding capabilities and interesting knowledge of ordinary household chemicals, piracy became too complicated to carry out regularly.
Incidents of space piracy didn't vanish overnight, but they did drop off sharply over a period between five and nine Standard Years. It declined sharply again when the Alliance allowed the Humans to join on an official basis.
Now that the only pirates are the ones who are truly desperate, the return greeting to an announcement of impending piracy is, "Are your people in trouble? How can we help?"
The most amazing part is... the Humans mean it.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / SteveAllen]
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